MEANWHILE

Englehart PLUS...SOME OL’ GROWN-UP JUNK JULY 2018 — NO. NINETEEN

The Comics & Graphic Novel Bulletin of

Jose Munoz Carlos Sampayo

Jose Munoz

Warren Ellis’

Stieg Larsson

AND OTHER AWESOME NEW

Audrey Niffenberger Eddie Campbell

Steve Englehart

Englehart

Kriota WIllberg

of hundreds of Quiz Kids, Joel Kupperman was the most famous. A math

prodigy from a Jewish family, Kupperman pere was exploited by every adult

he met. He was a cash cow for his mother, the producers, even the govern-

ment once the U.S. went to war with the Nazis. During WW2 the Quiz Kids

sold $125 million in war bonds while traveling across the nation. But while

his fellow Quiz Kids moved on with their lives, Joel remained on the show,

stuck in an eternal childhood. He eventually achieved a different kind of

fame and fortune as a professor of philosophy. But Kupperman’s youthful

trials affected him—and his family—forever after. Ostensibly a biography of

his father, All the Answers becomes a quest by Kupperman fils to solve the

puzzle of his own relationship with his distant, mysterious forebear. But

even as Michael digs into his father’s past, Joel’s mind flees even further

from reality as he succumbs to dementia. A history, memoir and lament in

one, All the Answers is available at Central, Eastside and Beaumont.

Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Michael Kup-

perman is known for his mixture of trash cul-

ture tropes and egghead irony. In such strips

as “Hercules and Dracula” and “Magritte the

Surrealist Crime Dog”, Kupperman used a

style based on the stiff, over-rendered figures

of hack comics from the mid-20th Century.

That connection to the corny yet potent past of

American mass media serves Kupperman well

in All the Answers (Galley 13). Michael’s fa-

ther, Joel Kupperman, was one of the Quiz

Kids. A game show starring child prodigies,

Quiz Kids was one of the most popular pro-

grams in the Golden Age of Radio. Though one

Ah, summer vacation! No more pencils, no more books, no

more teacher’s dirty looks! It’s the freedom to frolic, the time

to hang with your friends and family...if you’re lucky. Two new

graphic novels explore two different experiences with summer

vacation. Published by Farrar Straus Giroux, All Summer Long

is the new book from Hope Larson, the artist responsible for

the best-selling graphic adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. Thir-

teen-year-old Bina is on that uncomfortable cusp between child

and teenager. She wants to continue the Summer Fun Index

she’s kept for years with her neighbor and best friend, Aaron.

But Aaron thinks they’re too old for that stuff; besides, he’s off

to soccer camp. Stuck home by herself and cut off from the in-

ternet by her parents, Bina finds a new friend in Aaron’s older

sister, Charlie. Bina and Charlie bond over their mutual interest

in alternative rock (right) and help each other get through the

summer. All Summer Long is a meditation on friendship and a

testament to the transformative power of music. Elsewhere

and –when in Be Prepared (First Second), Vera Brosgol spends

summer at Russian Camp, a remnant of pre-

Communist scouting maintained by emigres. Un-

fortunately, nine-year-old Vera is also caught be-

tween ages, too old to be with the little kids, but

never really fitting in with the older girls who

share her tent. Vera tries her best, tries to be the

good scout, tries to be grown-up. But it’s rough.

She keeps messing up and breaking rules and

getting the rest of the girls in trouble. But through

pluck and luck, Vera Brosgol the character even-

tually finds her place in this little world. Vera

Brosgol the cartoonist (and author of Anya’s

Ghost) does a wonderful job with this graphic

memoir. Her script is heart-warming and hilarious

in turns, and her art captures both the beauty and

scariness of nature in the raw (left). Be Prepared

and All Summer Long are available from several

LPL locations; go to lexpublib.org for the details!

Published by Pajama Press, Small Things is a word-

less graphic novel for children. It’s the story of a

boy who is having a hard time. He can’t make

friends. His grades start to tank. He’s avoiding his

parents and starting fights with his older sister.

As his anxieties build, they begin to manifest as

swirling black creatures who bite pieces out of

him. Exquisitely rendered in pencil, this was the

final work of Australian cartoonist Mel Tregon-

ning. It reflected the artist’s own inner struggle.

She took her life before this book was finished.

Tregonning’s mentor Shaun Tan drew the final

three pages. Dark but still hopeful, Small Things is

available at Beaumont, Tates Creek and Eastside.

MEANWHILE re-introducing Golden Age stars like Patsy Walk-er and the original Human Torch to the Marvel Universe. He also took Marvel’s patented “Con-tinued Next Issue!” story-telling to the next level with increasingly complex epics such as the “Phantom Empire” and “Cosmic Madonna” sagas. The latter got started during the run of Avengers reprinted in that group’s latest Epic Collection, available from the TEEN section at all LPL locations. The Avengers-Defenders War set the two teams EEnglehart was writing against each other. At a time when such “events” hap-pen every summer whether readers want them or not, it’s hard to understand just how radical this crossover was. It lasted only five issues (two Defenders, three Avengers), but made a huge impact on future creators. This compilation also introduces the character Mantis, who would play a huge part in the Bronze Age Avengers. Unfor-tunately, once you read the kung fu clichés spouted by “this one”, you’ll understand why

they made her an alien for the movies. But, hey, it was the Seventies, man! That weird, wild dec-ade lives again in the aptly entitled Age of Disen-chantment (EuroComics). The second collection of Alack Sinner stories by JJose Munoz and CCarlos Sampayo starts in the 1970s and ends in the first decade of this century. Sinner continues to work as a private detective, whether the cops like it or not. His cases get stranger- a failed cartoonist hunts the man who has swiped his work to great success, the hallucinogenic “North Americans”- and more political—the growing incarceration of women, “Nicaragua.” But it’s the art that amazes in this volume. Unlike most comics, the name of the artist, JJose Munoz, comes first. That’s because he is the star of the duo. Other series with new volumes out include Warren Ellis’ The Wild Storm, the slam-bang fantasy Curse Words, sci-fi shoot-em-up Horizon and volumes 3-5 of the graphic adaptation of the occult detective series Rivers of London from Titan. That imprint’s collaboration with Hard Case Crime continues with comics based on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Girl Who...series, available from Beaumont, Central, Eastside and

Back issues of 741.5 are available at lexpublib.org under the COLLECTIONS tab!

Comics are a mix of words and picture, with the emphasis on the latter. But there have always been works which gave equal weight to both. Now the author of such bestsellers as The Time Traveler’s Wife and the artist behind Bacchus and From Hell team up in Bizarre Romance (Harry N. Abrams), availa-ble from Central. AAudrey Niffenberger pro-vides the words and EEddie Campbell the pictures for this anthology of whimsical short stories ranging from domestic fantasy to his-torical romance. Some are told in the panel-and-balloon form, others are more like illus-trated books. Then again, some modern comics are so wordy the page barely has room for the art. You can thank the 1970s for that. As the writer of Captain America and The Avengers, SSteve Englehart was the lead-er of a group of post-collegiate fans-turned-pro who brought their own hip, literate and, frankly, verbose style to the House of Ideas. Englehart expanded the “shared universe” aspect of Marvel’s success, retconning the 1950s Captain America into Cap canon and

Tates Creek. Speaking of the 1970s, one of the iconic film franchises of that era was Planet of the Apes. So popular were those movies that Marvel Comics jumped on the bandwagon. One of Marvel’s black & white magazine-sized comics like Dracula Lives! and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes featured new stories set in the Apes universe (which finally introduced gibbons into the mix) and adaptations of the films. The Marvel take on the first film and its se-quel, Beneath…, make up the bulk of Apes Archive Volume 2 (BOOM! Studios), available from Northside. Meanwhile, we still feel our past as primates in our body and bones when we stand, walk...and draw comics! Published by Uncivilized Books, Draw Stronger schools inkslingers on the physical dos and don’ts of drawing. Massage therapist and health teacher—and cartoonist—KKriota WIllberg dis-cusses the physical issues inherent to being a cartoonist while giving advice on how to keep the body limber and the mind clear. Go to lexpublib.org to reserve your copy!